Category: Business
Japan’s 360-Degree Virtual Reality Ad Network Secures Six-Digit In Seed Funding
Boarding the virtual reality shinkansen is a Tokyo-based startup known as VRize. But this company is not into the VR world of entertainment or social networking, instead the startup is running an ad business that utilizes the virtual reality space. More specifically, VRize is providing a 360-degree VR ad network for enterprises.
Today, in addition to VRize Ads, the startup has also announced the launch of another new service, VRize Video along with the news that it has secured a round of seed funding from Japanese investment firm B Dash Ventures and Japanese web marketing company Speee. The amount of the funding has not been disclosed, but according to sources, it seems that the company has raised a six-digit sum in terms of US dollars.
To date, VRize is working on two applications, one being VRize Ads, an application launched earlier in August which produces VR ads that can be distributed in three different formats including 360-degree video ad, over 150-inch large-screen feel video ad and 3DCG video ad.
On the other hand, VRize Video is a content management system for VR which will allow companies to develop VR applications, that is including in-app video clips for several VR platforms such as Oculus, PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, GearVR and Daydream.
In addition to the distribution of VR apps including 360-degree and 2D video clips, VRize also plans to improve the system by adding several other features such as live-streaming and in-app analysis.
VR is on the rise, with Mark Zuckerberg latest keynote offloading many considered a “crazy demo” of VR, especially taking photos in an virtual reality and share it on “real-reality”, and Malaysia’s Havson Group is on it’s way to building the first ever VR theme park in Malaysia, who has recently won South East Asia Champion at Create@Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Cloud Startup Contests, the world is seeing a revelation of new possibilities.
“The lines between virtual reality and “real” reality is getting blurred”, says Daniel Tan, CEO at Next Unicorn Ventures.
About VRize
VRize is a startup that provides VR advertising network, a solution that will help VR content producers and game developers to better monetize. The idea behind this startup was inspired by Immersv, operating on a similar business overseas. Besides that, VRize also aims to move the ad networks in the web field to the VR field. In any case, VRize is the first and true VR ad network in Japan, providing VRize Ads and VRize Video services. For more information, please visit http://vrize.io/
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
New Pool Of Parenting Services Startup In India
Eyeing the huge unexplored niche and opportunity in child development space, many entrepreneurs in India have developed different kind of apps to cater the needs of new parents. Here are some of the most innovative startup which allow parents to learn about their child’s development, that is addressing this market are BabyBerry, Tinystep, mycity4kids and Parentlane.
BabyBerry: BabyBerry is a pregnancy and parenting app, all rolled in one. It helps parents to keep track of their baby’s overall growth and development by providing a 360 degree experience, covering things such as vaccination charts, growth milestones, and also convenient features such as the ability to buy evaluated and recommended products and services.
Tinystep: Founded in September 2015 by IIT-Kanpu alumnus Suhail Abidi, Tinystep is a platform that connects parents with a community of parents as well as child services providers. In a recent news this Spetember, Tinystep has raised approximately US$501k from Flipkart.
mycity4kids: Vishal Gupta founded mycity4kids in 2010, an online marketplace where parents can search for information related to kids services, from services for throwing kids parties to venues for family entertainment. This startup has raised US$3 million funds in its Series A round held earlier this year.
ParentLane : Parentlane is an app that leverages data science and machine learning to map child development and deliver personalized recommendation to the parent community engaging on the platform. This app mainly focuses on child development up till the age of 8 years old.
Hence, it is undeniable that social media covers almost every aspect of one’s daily life, that is including the connections and the sharing of experiences of being a parent.
With children product and services market in India exceeding US$20 billion, growing at a CAGR of at least 20 percent and parents using such services to obtain parenting tips, the growth of startups in this domain are very optimistic.
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Uzabase Is Going IPO With US$177M Market Capital
Tokyo’s Uzabase, the startup behind the corporate profile database Speeda and business news update curating app NewsPick has recently announced its IPO application has been approved by the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).
Founded in 2008, Uzabase is currently working on two applications. The startup’s first app, Speeda was invented by its founding members who are bank investments experts. The app is designed to collect news update and business analysis from think tanks and provides them to finance businesses.
On the other hand, Newspick is an intuitive business news reading and sharing application. It serves the purpose of news curation and was offered back in September, 2013. The company has set NewsPick apart from other competitors through only curating news topics by notable economic news outlet.
Hence, from 21st October onward, the startup will be listed on the TSE Mother Market on Friday. Additionally, the company plans to offer 543, 000 shares for public subscription and selling 114,000 shares in over-allotment options for a total of 193,000 shares. With this, the company expects an initial market cap of 17.78 Billion yen (approximately US$177 Million).
Prior to this IPO announcement, the company has previously secured US$4.5 million from several Japanese companies and VC firms in a series C round held on the August of 2014.
For more information, please visit http://www.uzabase.com/en/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Singaporean Startup Create Application To Get People Involve In Social Volunteering
Various startups are setting out to solve real world problems, some are creating new solutions while others are revamping an industry.
One startup, is on a mission to do good to the world through social volunteering and this startup is known as Involver.
With the cause to help make a difference in various communities, Involver is founded by Kevin Chua and Chad Smalley back in October, 2015. The startup is working on an app that will connect eager volunteers to various organizations and their available projects. To date, Involver is partnered with more than 30 partners of NGOs, NPOs, charities and more.
Currently, Involver users who are looking for volunteer work can be situated either in Singapore, South Asia or Middle East with organizations such as HCA Hospice, Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore, Step Up Dubai, Inara, SMU BP Mentoring, MCYC Community Services Society, Habitat for Humanity and YMCA Singapore.
The main idea behind the startup is based on the idea that there is a barrier for those looking to do volunteer work who does not know how and where to start. In other words, social philanthropy lacks a platform. The same goes for even a corporations which may find it an uphill task to bring together a distributed workforce for contributions in terms of their corporate social responsibility (CSR).
But there is more to this than merely functioning as a platform for social volunteers and that is Involver adopts a gamified app interface using bright colors and beautiful graphics. Furthermore, users who go for volunteer causes can also achieve goals in this app which will unlock levels and badges.
Additionally, users can choose a cause they prefer, with categories available including Youth, Education, Environment, Poverty and Hunger, etc. Moreover, there is a feature where users can describe their attributions and specialties in order to get a more suitable position in the organization.
Ultimately, due to the mobile nature of their services, volunteering is made into a simple process by groups or individuals done simply through an app. Organisations using the app to recruit volunteers are only charged a nominal fee for helping with volunteer management. Involver estimate that through their service, they could potentially save charities and non-profits up to 5% of their annual sponsored funds.
About Involver
Involver is a gamified application that allows public and corporate volunteers to discover social causes and in turn contribute to create great social impacts. Involver serves as a platform for those who are looking to give back to the community. The application has also appeared as one of the top 5 finalist in The Venture, a global competition launched by Chivas that supports social entrepreuneurs.
For more information, please visit http://www.getinvolver.com/
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Huawei Invest US$1 Million Into New AI Research Partnership With UC Berkeley
Artificial intelligence has been heralded as the trend in the tech industry presently. In the latest news on that front, China’s Huawei and University of California, Berkeley are forging a research partnership focusing on basic Artificial Intelligence (AI) research. The Chinese technology company will be providing US$1 million into funding the research.
Additionally, the partnership will be between Huawei Noah’s Ark Laboratory and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR), with the research unit being billed as “a strategic partnership into basic research” will be concentrated on the development of machine learning, AI and data mining.
As such, Huawei and UC Berkeley researches will work on the next wave of Artificial Intelligence technology, specifically catering to specific AI related domains such as deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision and reinforcement learning.
But ultimately, the aim of the partnership is not only to advance Artificial Intelligence research but instead to find uses for the technology among the daily life of the society, that is into real-world application rather than have it confined as mere theoretical models in the laboratory.
“The two parties believe that this strategic partnership will fuel the advancement of AI technology and create completely new experiences for people, thus contributing greatly to society at large,” said Huawei.
In practicality, the advancements made at the Berkeley lab would be similar to Google with its AI assistant or Microsoft and its Cortana virtual assistance, that is adding an AI powered feature into the smartphone or tablet software.
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media